3 Must Read Stories: U.S. Rules Out North Korea Talks, Australia Not So Lucky, Tesla’s ‘Production Bottleneck’

The White House has ruled out talks with North Korea over the rogue nation's nuclear program.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said the U.S will only use existing channels to discuss the release of three U.S. citizens detained in North Korea. Here's Reuterswith the details:

“We’ve been clear that now is not the time to talk,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters, reiterating a tweet from President Donald Trump at the weekend that was seen as undercutting Tillerson.

“The only conversations that have taken place were that ... would be on bringing back Americans who have been detained,” Sanders said. “Beyond that, there will be no conversations with North Korea at this time.”

Tillerson said on Saturday during a trip to China that the United States was directly communicating with North Korea on its nuclear and missile programs but that Pyongyang had shown no interest in dialogue.

Australia is in its 26th consecutive year of economic growth, just two years shy of the securing the world's long spell without a recession. It is still on track to beat the record currently held by the Netherlands, but as Bloombergreports, this golden period masks a darker picture for the Lucky Country:

There’s been no major economic reform since the turn of the century, with just about every attempt reversed or cannibalized by toxic politics. And the impact is starting to show. Just when the economy needs growth drivers outside of mining, a slide in global rankings for innovation and education suggest living standards could decline. The miracle economy that shrugged off the global recession is turning mediocre.

“Now that we don’t have the benefit of the mining boom, there’s nothing really that replaces it in terms of driving economic activity,” said Jeremy Lawson, chief economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments in Edinburgh and a former Reserve Bank of Australia economist. “The really big task of governments over the next 5 to 10 years is to deal with these big structural issues that Australia is facing. Potential growth is relatively weak.”

Tesla (TSLA) only delivered 220 Model 3 cars in the third quarter, missing its target of 1,500 in a sign that the production ramp-up is more challenging than expected. Here's the Wall Street Journalwith the details:

The Silicon Valley electric-car maker built 260 of the Model 3s between July and September, the company said Monday in a statement. In August, the auto maker predicted it would build more than 1,500 Model 3s before cranking up production to 5,000 a week by the end of the fourth quarter.

The Model 3, which starts at about $35,000, represents Chief Executive Elon Musk’s bet that he can transform the luxury auto maker into a more mainstream player around the world. Tesla blamed “production bottlenecks” for the weaker production.

“It is important to emphasize that there are no fundamental issues with the Model 3 production or supply chain,” Tesla said in a statement. “We understand what needs to be fixed and we are confident of addressing the manufacturing bottleneck issues in the near-term.”

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